Lenawee Christian boys basketball falls to SMCC

The Lenawee Christian boys basketball entered Tuesday night with a gameplan to try and limit possessions for Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central, a much taller and experienced squad.

The Cougars executed that gameplan for the most part and made things tough on the Falcons early, but an inability to shake off the proverbial lid on the rim spelled a tough night.

Northwood signee Nick Welch poured in 16 points for SMCC, whom eventually found its groove and never looked back, winning the first round matchup of the seventh annual SHU High School Holiday Tournament located at the SHU Fieldhouse on the campus of Siena Heights University, 44-27.

SMCC will take on Brighton who upended Madison, at 7:30 p.m. today in the title game. Lenawee Christian and Madison will face off at 6 p.m. in the consolation game.

“I thought we got some great looks at the basket,” said Lenawee Christian coach Scott McKelvey. “We really didn’t force too many shots, it just would not go in. It’s tough to drive on them because they’re so big inside. We tried to get a few things in transition, but they get back in transition really well."

The Falcons (2-0) got off to a slow start, having lots of time run off of the clock as LCS (1-3) was purposely patient with their possessions.

Once SMCC got some easy looks in transition and got to the foul line, its offense began to gel.

“It was kind of nice to see them react to some things,” said SMCC coach Randy Windham. “We don’t have a lot of guys that just play basketball, so it was nice to see them adjust and react and be able to make adjustments on the fly.

“Once we got running up and down the floor a bit, that kind of forced them out of that atmosphere.”

Welch put in four early free throws, while buckets from Aaron Bodrie and Wyatt O’Brien totaled the only points for the Falcons in the first. Defensively however, they were able to limit LCS to three points after a 3-pointer from Reggie Marks banked in.

With an extended zone, their main focus was to prevent LCS’ leading scorer Trey Helinski from getting hot.

“He hurt us last year at our place,” Windham said. “He had their first 12 points last year, and the kids were aware of that. He’s a really good player and he’s hard to shut down, but I felt we did a pretty good job.”

Trailing 9-3 after one, Helinski built some momentum for LCS by scoring five quick points, while Marks added another bucket. SMCC however scored 13 in the second and took a 22-10 halftime lead.

The Cougars saw good ball movement, were aggressive on the glass and had some good drives at the rim. Their struggles to finish however continued to linger. The Falcons’ length defensively was too much to overcome.

“I think we played probably the grittiest we’ve played this year,” McKelvey said. “We’re gonna have to play that way night in and night out and hopefully the shots will start to fall sooner or later.”

LCS outscored St. Mary 15-9 in the fourth, but it was too little, too late as the Falcons sealed the win to remain unbeaten. Marks led LCS with eight points, while Helinski added seven.

Liam Hardy led the Cougars in rebounds with eight, while Hutson Hohlbein and Nick Wiesman each added three steals. Welch added five rebounds and four assists to his game-high 16 points, while O’Brien and Christopher Haut each chipped in nine points for the Falcons.